A national supermarket giant has been given permission to move into Newport — after concerns its presence would fuel anti-social behaviour.
On Wednesday, the Isle of Wight Council gave Tesco the green light to hold an alcohol and food licence at its new store on Newport High Street. It is now thought the chain’s 6th Island store, which is moving into the former Laura Ashley and H.Samuel store, will open by Easter 2023.
The application will see the express store sell food and alcohol for consumption off the premises from 06:00 to midnight, 7 days a week.
The proposals had led to concerns from one local objector, who did not attend the council hearing, who claimed if the application was granted it would fuel public disorder.
Speaking at the council’s licensing sub-committee hearing, Tesco’s licensing manager, Hardish Purewal, said the chain had had no licensing issues raised with Island stores in the past. Ms Purewal said in the express store there would only be a small number of alcohol lines and the store would not be branded as an off-licence but predominantly a grocery shop with an alcohol offering.
Along with CCTV, staff would be able to refuse to serve alcohol to customers, she said, and have good training programmes for staff on age-restricted sales.
She said:
“It is a product we want to sell responsibly and needs to be drunk responsibly.”
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Ms Purewal thanked the objector for their representation and said it was good to hear what is going on in the town but there was no evidence of problems and should the police have had any issue they would have contacted them. Council officers said there was no evidence to suggest other retail outlets in the town selling alcohol on the same terms have any bearing on incidents of anti-social behaviour.
Questions were raised about what would happen when the Isle of Wight Festival took place, and whether, like other stores, there would be promotions on alcohol or an increase in stock. The manager of Tesco Express in Wootton told the committee that in recent years, with alcohol now able to be pre-ordered at the festival site, its sales had massively dropped.
They confirmed they had never done a promotional price on the Island but may bring in more stock due to the increase in demand. The sub-committee agreed to the licence and wished Tesco success with the store.
There is still mystery surrounding the future of the H.Samuel store on Newport High Street as, unlike Laura Ashley, the building is still occupied.
Great news for the economy, jobs and alcoholism!
Having a laugh,go to store in Ventnor in the evening, not only get alcohol underage but can get your joint (weed not meat ) too. Very intimidating sometimes when walk over from carpark. This also for Newport when we have,Lidl, Morrison, Sainsbury’s etc already open till ten and Aldi and others on way, how much alcohol is consumed on this Island?. Maybe why we have highest drink driving convictions.
Yes the Ventnor Tesco really needs some security in the evenings.. the local, drunk and often intimidating scumbags steal from there quite often and of course nothing ever happens. Half the time I don’t even think they report it!
Teaco clearly do not report acts of criminality unless they have no choice, as they need to give the impression that late alcohol sales do not lead to disorder when applying in new locations. The granting of this licence beggars belief, especially in view of the refusal of licence for the tiny local business EAT STREET. There is no apparent consistency in their decisions, which is very suspicious.
I would hate to work in the evenings at this store when the scum all come out knicking all the booze.
Yet the council won’t allow alcohol to be sold from a takeaway food trailer
Money, money, money…
someone got a good backhander
This is a really irresponsible decision – it will inevitably lead tio problems. License should stop at 7pm !
The small business EAT STREET was refused a licence – and they pose much less risk than Tesco for anti-social behaviour issues.
The Council are clearly subject to pressure !.
It should be YES to both or NO to both. A shameful decision !
Yes bad news really don’t like Tesco really expensive and another small supermarket really if theres already too many in Newport
Sad part is it will mean more large heavy lorries on our sad roads.. bringing supplies to the new store… also more of those pesky delivery trucks…. seems no one argued that point !
If by pesky delivery trucks you mean the home delivery vans, it won’t make any difference as they all operate from the Tesco store at West ridge which is where all the online orders are picked.
The clue is ‘Delivery Truck’ NOT home delivery van.
Or as a major company it will create stable jobs with a workplace pension and career opportunities, they should have said that to keep it in fitting with the rest of the town…..really the world does move on. NIMBY
Let’s hope the staff of the convenience store across the road are successful in getting a job there, cause that will surely close down.
Perhaps the pesky delivery vans are delivering to people who are unable to physically walk around the store due to health issues. Have you ever thought about that? It’s a lifeline service for many people.
So, where are the delivery vehicles going to park? Seeing that the council are removing alot of the parking spaces in that section of the High street. (Loading bays only by the monument or Watson Bull & Porter)
Now, let’s see…
People bemoan the lack of shops in Newport, the fact that there are so many empty, and yet, here we have something in the way of positive news.
Did the ‘Objector’ raise their point against the Co-op when it was in Newport, or have they filed complaints/objections against Wetherspoons and all of the other pubs in town about alcohol sales and drunkenness.
Somehow, think they need to crawl back under their rock!
Looks like Tesco have a ready supply of brown envelopes to dish out. They seem to get whatever they want, wherever they are. It would change if one of the “customers” they sell alcohol to smashes one of the windows of the store.
someone got a good back hander
OK for a large business to sell alcohol till midnight but a couple try to start a small business out of a horse trailer that sells a small amount of alcohol at reasonable hours and it’s a big no no.
Hhhmmmm someone’s wallets just got a little bit fatter
More excuses for the violent, evil and mental beings lurking in every town on the Island to use ‘being drunk’ as mitigating circumstance when caught for beating, raping, stabbing or crashing a vehicle .
Not so long back being drunk would have ADDED time to a sentence, now it is used as a way to get even less feeble punishment.
My guess is Tesco are part of The WEF, they get away with doing what they want.
Fantastic news. One less empty shop, more jobs and why the hell are people moaning about delivery vehicles? There’s a loading bay pretty much right outside which every other shop in the area successfully uses one more vehicle maybe twice a week isn’t going to hurt..
I agree in principle, but the alcohol licence should be until 7pm only, then I think everyone would support this new store with no reservations.
Council being branded a little ,,,crooked to put it one way , but I tend to agree ,envelopes talk
Be interesting to see how long it takes to make Newport a No Go Zone.
A bit of overreaction here. It’s a Tesco’s local not a cr@ck house. It will offer some alcohol along with a good selection of food. It’ll be handy if you live that end of town. I know several older residents it’ll help as they can nip there every day instead of doing a big shop. If drinkers want drink they will get it but can’t see why Tesco’s opening later will fuel the flames of extreme drinking